The Tossers

Emerging among the earliest acts in the Celtic punk underground, Chicago's the Tossers blended punk rock's rebellious edge and bravado with a vigorous yet faithful rendering of Irish traditional folk music. Anthony "T." Duggins launched the band in Chicago, Illinois, during 1993 as its lead vocalist and mandolinist. He had already performed Irish folk material in Windy City taverns since turning 18 and, seeking greater impact in the style of his heroes the Pogues, recruited his brother Aaron Duggins on tin whistle and accordion along with guitarist Brian Dwyer, who supplied the group's name. ("Tosser" originally denoted British coins rendered valueless after the Irish Free State's founding, though it later signified a worthless and unscrupulous person.) The Tossers issued their debut recording, the demo The Pint of No Return, in 1994, followed by the full-length We'll Never Be Sober Again on the independent Folk You imprint in 1996. They subsequently aligned with the regional indie Thick Records, which put out the studio albums Long Dim Road in 2000 and Purgatory in 2003, plus the 2001 compilation Communication & Conviction that combined The Pint of No Return and We'll Never Be Sober Again on a single disc.

The Tossers earned acclaim for their explosive concerts and relentless touring pace, shaping like-minded groups including the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. Beginning in 2005, the band entered an extended association with Victory Records that yielded the album The Valley of the Shadow of Death that same year. Although personnel shifted frequently, the Duggins brothers, guitarist Mike Pawula, and drummer Bones formed the stable nucleus from that juncture forward, while the Tossers appeared on bills alongside Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Stiff Little Fingers, the Reverend Horton Heat, and Murphy's Law. From 2007 through 2013 they sustained an active performance calendar while completing three studio releases—Agony in 2007, On a Fine Spring Evening in 2008, and The Emerald City in 2013—and captured their intense stage presence on the 2008 live set Gloatin' and Showboatin': Live on St. Patrick's Day. In 2017 the current configuration—the Duggins brothers, Pawula, Bones, fiddler Emily Ruth Constantinou, and bassist Peter Muschong—delivered the Victory album Smash the Windows.